Cost savings programs for manufacturing systems are continuously striving to minimize waste and improve the quality of product given to the consumer. For example, a statistical control model such as disclosed in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,260,188 enables the setup and control of a process to optimize process and product quality and efficiency. Existing manufacturing systems have evolved over time such that most easy-to-find, intuitive, or obvious opportunities to minimize waste and improve productivity have long been fixed or are effectively managed. Efforts to improve productivity often require fundamental changes in equipment capability and/or reliability to remove technical liabilities that are experienced during production operation.
A previous analysis tool presents cull waste results from a machine chronology built from data obtained during the manufacturing process. However, this tool analyzes and presents results on a univariate basis or pools results across time to the shift level of resolution (e.g., 12-hour blocks). Pooling and tabulating production data results in a loss of event/time order and fails to define interrelations describing cause and effect (e.g., identifying driving events). In addition, the speed, complexity, and size of modern manufacturing systems make it difficult to determine causal relationships without knowledge of the process flow.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods that provide a fast, convenient, standardized means of obtaining detailed process reliability information for a particular asset and period of operation.